Two Portland area programs land $7.5M for tech training

Clackamas Community College and Worksystems Inc. are both picking up millions in federal dollars handed out by the U.S. Department of Labor in order to prepare more people for jobs in technology.

The department doled out 39 grants totaling $150 million to programs across 25 states. Clackamas Community College was granted $3.5 million and Worksystems picked up $4 million.

The government is funding the programs as part of the TechHire initiative launched by the Obama administration in March 2015. The initiative is meant to help cities and rural communities work with companies to tackle the hiring challenges faced by the private sector and move more people into high paying tech fields.

These fields aren’t limited to software development and coding programs but also work in IT, and within sectors such as health care and advanced manufacturing.

Worksystems, the nonprofit that works with state and local government entities to identify programs that improve the workforce, will use the funds for its TechRise PDX program. This program helps train young people in diverse communities for apprenticeships or paid internships.

The program works with the groups Hack Oregon and St. Louis-based LaunchCode to prepare students with classroom and project-based learning. TechRise is expected to create 180 tech apprenticeships in Portland.

The Clackamas Community College program is collected $3.5 million from TechHire to create a pathway for young adults and low-wage workers into advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity jobs.